ON LOVE; PART XDXXIV
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
GoodWill IS Love in Action
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
The Gospel of Thomas
These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke. And Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down.
(58) Jesus says: “Blessed is the person who has struggled. He has found life.”
(59) Jesus says: “Look for the Living One while you are alive, so that you will not die (and) then seek to see him. And you will not be able to see (him).”
(60) <He saw> a Samaritan who was trying to steal a lamb while he was on his way to Judea. He said to his disciples: “That (person) is stalking the lamb.” They said to him: “So that he may kill it (and) eat it.” He said to them: “As long as it is alive he will not eat it, but (only) when he has killed it (and) it has become a corpse.” They said to him: “Otherwise he cannot do it.” He said to them: “You, too, look for a place for your repose so that you may not become a corpse (and) get eaten.”
(61) Jesus said: “Two will rest on a bed. The one will die, the other will live.” Salome said: “(So) who are you, man? You have gotten a place on my couch as a <stranger> and you have eaten from my table.” Jesus said to her: “I am he who comes from the one who is (always) the same. I was given some of that which is my Father’s. I am your disciple! Therefore I say: If someone becomes <like> (God), he will become full of light. But if he becomes one, separated (from God), he will become full of darkness.”
(62) Jesus says: “I tell my mysteries to those who [are worthy] of [my] mysteries. Whatever you right hand does, your left hand should not know what it is doing.”
Today IS United Nations Day 2013 and we present here this year’s Proclamation by President Obama regarding the United States observance of this day. Perhaps in the future we can do more, perhaps we can build up to this day with some pronouncements of its coming, perhaps we can enlighten men and women around the world of the nature of the United Nations mission, a mission which is not covered in the news and in political debate and one that should be well covered in our schools. Perhaps we can do something positive to promote the ideas found in the United Nations charter and the many world serving entities that it has created such as UNICEF and UNESCO. One of the more important programs of the United Nations today is the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals which we discuss in some detail in In the Words of Jesus part 470 and which we will discuss briefly again below. The following is this year’s message from the President of the United States which affirms our commitment as a nation to the ideas presented in yesterday’s essay as the Preamble to the United Nations Charter and to the Charter itself and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights which we have presented in the past in In the Words of Jesus part 478, along with other United Nations ideas.
A PROCLAMATION
In 1945, after two world wars that showed the horrific lethality of modern conflict, 51 member states came together to create the United Nations, a bold new organization that sought to build a lasting peace for the generations to follow. Today, 68 years after the adoption of the United Nations Charter, we mark United Nations Day by reaffirming our commitment to its purposes and principles. We celebrate the organization’s challenging and often unheralded work of forging a world in which every man, woman, and child can live in freedom, dignity, and peace.
With the aim of sparing their children and grandchildren from the ravages of war, the members of the United Nations committed “to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security.” In the nearly seven decades since they adopted these words in the United Nations Charter, the global threats to international peace and security have changed, but the need for international cooperation has only increased. While the United Nations was founded after a period of cataclysmic war among states, today many of the principal challenges to international peace and security are rooted in the need to prevent or address unconscionable slaughter and violence within states. As the United States works to address challenges old and new, we will continue our close cooperation with partners across the globe, including at the United Nations. And recognizing that the path to conflict often begins with the denial of basic human dignity, we remain committed to realizing another fundamental principle set forth in the Charter — that no one should be denied the fundamental freedoms that are their birthright.
As we mark the founding of a body built to pursue peace in an imperfect world, let us reaffirm that the values set forth in its Charter guide us still. They remind us that leaders and citizens alike, in the United States and around the world, will be judged by whether we contributed to a world that is more peaceful, just, and free. Let us honor the men and women of the United Nations itself, who work in countries across the globe, often unseen and uncelebrated, to improve the lives of the world’s most vulnerable people. May we stand firm in our resolve to give voice to the voiceless and to turn swords into plowshares. And may we never lose sight of the essential truth that we live in a world where our fates are bound together as a community of nations, strengthened by our differences and united by our shared hopes for the future.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 24, 2013, as United Nations Day. I urge the Governors of the 50 States, and the officials of all other areas under the flag of the United States, to observe United Nations Day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-third day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-eighth.
BARACK OBAMA
Rather than war and peace, this year we again focus upon the more positive forces for human development in the United Nations program, one that is intended to reach out “unto one of the least of these my brethren” (Matthew 25:40) to use the words of the Christ. The Millennium Goals ARE an idea that is founded in GoodWill and in Right Human Relations and this IS True regardless of the motivations of the 193 signatories to the MDG document. Here in this country and in the ‘developed’ world we see poverty as a shortage and lack of education as not having a High School degree; in the ‘undeveloped’ world however these ideas are much more extreme and in those 49 countries identified as least developed and the many others that are developing or which have large sections where poverty abounds. An example of this type of poverty can be seen in one of the criteria for being classified as a least developed country which is a GNI (gross national income) three year per capita value of less than $992. Further, to graduate from this class to the next the GNI must reach only $1190 and we should understand here that these numbers are the maximums and that many people are subsisting on far less. This abject poverty effects every other measure of Life in these places and it is disappointing that regardless of what the developed countries do and offer to do that there IS so much more that can be done.
The Millennium Development Goals are a beginning and not an end as many of those millions upon millions of people who are helped here are but brought up a wrung on the ladder of Life in the world; they will still exist substantially below the normal of the developed world. Below are the defining ideas of what these Millennium Goals are and below that is a statement of how far the world has progressed against these goals.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight international development goals that were officially established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. All 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve these goals by the year 2015. The goals are:
- eradicating extreme poverty and hunger,
- achieving universal primary education,
- promoting gender equality and empowering women
- reducing child mortality rates,
- improving maternal health,
- combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases,
- ensuring environmental sustainability, and
- developing a global partnership for development.
Preface of the MDG Gap Taskforce Report for 2013:
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have mobilized action from Governments, civil society and other partners around the world, with significant results. Extreme poverty has been cut in half. More people have access to improved sources of water. Conditions are better for 200 million people living in slums. More girls are in school. Child and maternal mortality is declining.
Around the world, wherever we look, the MDGs have brought success—but not complete success. Achievements vary within and among countries. Globally, we are lagging badly on some targets—especially sanitation, which poses a major threat to the health of people and the environment.
Less than 1,000 days of action remain to close these gaps. To accelerate momentum and scale up what has been shown to work, the international community must keep fiscal promises and reinforce the global partnership for development. This is important not just for achieving the MDGs but for the credibility of a post-2015 sustainable development agenda that can eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
The present report tracks delivery on the commitments listed under Millennium Development Goal 8—the global partnership for development. Some of the indicators show progress, but efforts towards the United Nations target of allocating 0.7 per cent of gross national income to development aid have been receding in the past two years. We must reverse this trend.
An increasing proportion of exports from least developed countries entering developed-country markets on a preferential basis demonstrates some advance in international trade policy, but the Doha Development Agenda has officially been at an impasse since the end of 2011. In the case of debt sustainability, the international initiative for heavily indebted poor countries has been successfully implemented. However, a number of small island developing States needed to restructure their debt in 2012 and additional countries are at high risk of debt distress, nine of them in sub-Saharan Africa.
Access to essential medicines is insufficient. Prices remain high and dispensing facilities are not appropriately stocked. And, while access to information and communication technologies is expanding rapidly, disparities in access and costs remain high.
The picture is mixed. We can do better. The best way to prepare for the post-2015 era is to demonstrate that when the international community commits to a global partnership for development, it means it and directs its resources to where they are most needed. Let us therefore intensify our efforts in the remaining months to achieve the MDGs by 2015.
Ban Ki-moon
Secretary-General of the United Nations
The entire report is available from:
From our perspective this idea of poverty and lack of education and the simple necessities of Life is in many ways a necessary evil in this world of men where Souls are incarnating at a high rate and many of these are Souls that have not yet achieved the ability to live in a more developed state. There is a natural harmony of a Soul and his achieved level of mental and emotional expression and it does not serve any for the undeveloped Soul, that is undeveloped from the perspective of his ability to somewhat control Life in form, to be born into a modern society that demands this ability. This is a necessarily complex and difficult subject to discuss as we do not have this knowledge, we only have intuition and presumed revelation which is difficult to put into cogent thoughts. Here however, if we do believe in the concept of reincarnation and not in the ideas that these people born into this state of abject poverty are born so by the Will of God, then we must believe that there is an order and a purpose for this way of Life for some as compared to the comfort of others. Here again we rely ourselves upon the Truth of the words of the Apostles, that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) and the words of the Master on the equality of treatment for ALL from the perspective of the Nature of God who “maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).
However, considering this idea of the necessary evil that some are born into this situation of poverty, this lack of education and the scarcity of the simple necessities of Life, we should KNOW as well that it is to the rest of us, to the developed nations of the world to do ALL that they can to help to alleviate the burden on our brothers in the undeveloped and the under developed world, to adequately share the resources at much higher levels than is the custom today. As Nations there IS the wherewithal to make rapid change and to insure the completion of these Millennium Development Goals…..ALL that is lacking is the Will to do so. Much is done to be sure on national and individual levels but so much more can be done and with so little sacrifice. Perhaps this IS our test as a Soul in form who can reach out as an individual, as a religious, political or business group, as a nation or as a consortium of nations. Perhaps this IS our test of our ability to express our True divine nature at every level. We close here today with these words from the Apostle John:
“But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:17-18).
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect of God |
Potency |
Aspect of Man |
In Relation to the Great Invocation |
In relation to the Christ |
|
GOD, The Father |
Will or Power |
Spirit or Life |
Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN |
Life |
|
Son, The Christ |
Love and Wisdom |
Soul or Christ Within |
Heart of God |
Truth |
|
Holy Spirit |
Light or Activity |
Life Within |
Mind of God |
Way |
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
Values to Live By
A Love of Truth—essential
for a just, inclusive and progressive society;
A Sense of Justice—recognition
of the rights and needs, of all.
Spirit of Cooperation—based
on active goodwill and the principle of right human
relationships;
A Sense of Personal Responsibility—for
group, community and national affairs;
Serving the Common Good— through
the sacrifice of selfishness. Only what is good for all
is good for each one.
The world of the future depends on what each one of us chooses to do today.
From a previous essay and Quote of the Day we reprise these words: It is interesting to note that the ideas of the Quote of the Day embody much of the Master’s teachings and can set the stage for the beginning of each man’s revelation and realization of the Light of the Soul; that is, that by the intentional practice of these ‘rules’ of conduct one can put himself in the position of a follower of the Master and an keeper of His word and this regardless if he has ever heard of the Christ or wants to be affiliated with any ideas Christian. By keeping these sound principals of Life in mind and practicing them a man can lift himself up above and beyond the world of men and into the world of the Good, the Beautiful and the True as it exists for those in whom the Christ Within, the God Within, is awakened. Ponder on this.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 14 The Gospel of Thomas; Translated by Stephen J. Patterson and James M. Robinson; http://gnosis.org/
